Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith;
test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus
is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
2 Corinthians 13.5
The Word of God instructs us to examine ourselves to see how we truly stand before God. Many times we examine the condition of others and also examine our own problems/situations that we are facing. Yet, we are hesitant to examine ourselves. There are different reasons for this. Sometimes the person does not take a moment to evaluate their position before God because they are scared.
They are scared that if they evaluate their faith, search their heart, they might run into a rock. The person is not willing to examine themselves because they fear that if they find a stone, it will mean that they will discover that they are not right before God.
If they are not right before God, how will they have the condition to serve Him? No. Some people are so worried about this that they do not even dare to do this examination. Because they may think, "No, then that means I wont be able to be lifted, or I will have to stop using my uniform, and what will the others around me think. They are going to see that I am not really ok as I present myself to be" etc.
The person is more worried about losing their image or their title, then about their own salvation. And if we think about it, what kind of servant will I be, how can I truly be a servant that makes a difference and wins souls, if I do not take care of my own salvation?
It is as the Word of God says, what is the point of winning the world and losing your soul, losing the only thing of value that we have?
When the pastor is preaching, giving the word, and the person at that moment realizes that the Word given is for her, and feels a pain, a tightness in her heart, it is because their is a rock. And while that rock remains there, the person will not see the Glory of God. Just look at what happened with Martha and her brother Lazarus:
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
John 11.38-42
In order for Martha to see the Glory of God, the stone needed to be removed. If this stone is removed, we will see the glory of God. If it is not removed, the person will see the disgrace of the devil. Yes or no? While this person does not remove this stone, the person will never glorify God with their life. They will remain in the church for 10, 20 years and their life will be the same with a faith that is shut off.
The person has to truly examine themselves to see if they were born of God or not. Because if the person is not born of God, it is like the bible says, the person will not SEE the Kingdom of God. Much less enter it. In other words, the person will not see the glory of God. But in order for us to be born again, first, we need to be liberated from any stones. Once we are liberated, we can seek this new birth, once we are reborn, we seek for the seal of the Holy Spirit, and once we are sealed, we will mighty instruments in the hands of God, to save souls. There is no skipping steps. We can deceive man, we can deceive the pastor, even ourselves, but we cannot deceive the Holy Spirit.
What is your position before God? What step do you find yourself in?
-THINK ABOUT IT-
No comments:
Post a Comment